


Find a Way

by CalvinPitt



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: 1200 words of sano being angry in the woods, Gen, Introspection, References to Canonical Character Death, no beta we die like captain sagara, sano's mostly self-taught, there's limits to that, those poor trees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27606266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalvinPitt/pseuds/CalvinPitt
Summary: Wandering in the woods while he's supposed to be headed to Kyoto, Sanosuke tries to figure out what he's missing.
Kudos: 7





	Find a Way

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, or any of its characters or concepts. I'm not trying to make a buck off this, etc., etc.,
> 
> This is basically an extended version of the brief scene in volume 8 of the manga where Sano's wrecking a bunch of trees in the woods, trying to figure out how to get stronger. All the quotes in the first few paragraphs are stuff Saito said to him during or after their first two fights.

A man stood in the middle of a stand of trees, panting heavily, clothes sticking loosely to him. 

Or rather, he stood in the middle of what _used_ to be a stand of trees. At the moment it was well on its way to looking like a cyclone just passed through.

He roared in anger as his punch tore through yet another tree trunk.

_‘In Kyoto, during the Bakumatsu, a punch like that. . . would be nothing.’_

The tree toppled over, falling towards him. The man stood his ground before letting the tree crash against his forehead.

_‘A fool who relies so much on his own toughness that he learns nothing of defense, also has nothing to rely on.’_

“This. . . isn’t helping,” he spat out as he shoved the tree off, the thunder of its landing echoing through the woods. Seeing there were no more trees standing around him, Sanosuke sprinted towards the next stand.

He jumped at the first tree, splitting it with another punch, then spun and snapped through another with a roundhouse kick. Two more trunks were broken in the next moment, sending all four plummeting towards him.

He’d miscalculated, though, as the tops of the trees got entangled. Instead of defending himself from the four trunks, he was buried under a mountain of tiny limbs and leaves.

_‘To Battosai, your existence is nothing. . . but a liability.’_

“Damnit!” The young man dug himself out from under the mess, then turned back to stare angrily at it for several moments. He was covered in small scratches and bruises he barely noticed.

“What am I missing?” Sano muttered, kicking at a few stray limbs. This might be making him physically stronger, but it wasn’t enough. He’d seen enough of Kenshin’s fight with Saito. Whatever the others said about Sanosuke being an idiot, he could recognize the gap between himself and the two Bakumatsu veterans. Saito hadn’t fought him seriously at all.

He gritted his teeth as that arrogant smirk came to mind. Sanosuke’s two fights against the former Shinsengumi Captain had been playing repeatedly in his mind, along with the cutting remarks that came with them. That bastard Mibu Wolf said Sano knew nothing of defense.

Which was. . . fair. Sano had never been one for blocking. He understood it was an option, sure, but like he’d told Saito, if you’re blocking in a fistfight, you can’t attack. Sano liked to attack. And if you kicked the shit out of your opponent, then you didn’t have to worry about blocking anything.

But that clearly didn’t work if you couldn’t hit your opponent (like when he challenged Kenshin), or if your opponent wasn’t fazed by your punches (like Saito). Which meant Sano needed something else. Something more.

What that was, remained a mystery to the former fighter-for-hire. And Sano needed to find it, soon. He couldn’t afford to be useless. He looked around, trying to figure out which direction was west, marching towards his best guess.

He’d been useless to Captain Sagara. The man was executed under bullshit charges by the corrupt Meiji government, trying to protect itself, and all Sanosuke could do was mourn and rage in fights that ultimately meant nothing.

Now Kenshin was going off into some battle, the Meiji government asking him to save their useless butts again. Against _another_ person the bastards in the government used, then discarded when he was inconvenient to them.

If Kenshin wasn’t involved, Sanosuke probably wouldn’t care about this Shishio. It felt right for the government to suffer the consequences of their corrupt actions. But Kenshin _was_ involved, and Sano was not going to stand back and risk letting him die. Which meant he needed to find a way to move forward. Prove to his friend he wasn’t just a liability.

Also, he wanted a rematch with Saito. He’d make that bastard eat his words. Visions of that dancing through his mind, Sanosuke kicked down another tree, then shattered the trunk as it fell with hail of punches. 

He frowned and resumed walking through the still falling leaves, picking splinters out of his fists as he did. When Saito called him a hatchling, Sano spat back that Saito hadn’t been this strong all his life, either. The same had to be true of Kenshin. How did those two do it? 

Facing opponents like themselves, obviously. Meanwhile Sanosuke was out here, fighting trees. He scanned his surroundings. He hadn’t seen a person in days, not since he wandered off the road to train as he traveled. He wasn’t sure where the road was, or where he was, even. The chances of finding a legitimate opponent, a real challenge, were almost non-existent.

He stalked through the forest, thoughts drifting back to Tokyo. He wondered if Yahiko had gotten Kaoru up and moving. Probably. He was usually a loud-mouthed brat, but the kid was growing all the time. However much he grumbled about his teacher, studying under Kaoru was definitely paying off.

Sanosuke stopped in his tracks. A teacher. Like Yahiko and the little miss, Kenshin and Saito must have learned the sword from someone. Well, Sano wouldn’t put it past that Shinsengumi asshole to have emerged from his mother’s stomach with a condescending smirk and katana in hand, but still. They’d learned from _someone._

He scoffed. Not really a luxury he ever had. He learned a few things about brawling from watching his stubborn old man defend their farm, but that was about it. Just producing enough to stay alive was a full-time job. Fighting was reserved for emergencies. He'd gone off to fight, but Captain Sagara hadn’t let Sanosuke fight in battles. Because he was a “junior soldier.” He carried a dagger for defense, and his Captain’s sword until it was needed, but that was all. 

It wasn’t like the Zanbatou came with a manual, either. He found it, made himself strong enough to use it, and figured out the “how” as he went along. What Sano knew about fighting, he learned by getting into fights. Either kicking ass, or getting his ass kicked. And that approach worked. Enough to give him a reputation in the back alleys of Tokyo, anyway. 

He stared at his fist, clenching and unclenching it slowly. Sanosuke wondered if he’d reached the limit of what he could do alone.

He eyed the trees again. They all looked the same. Not much better odds of finding some mysterious old master to teach him, than of finding someone to fight. 

He shook the thought off. There was no time to waste worrying about it. He’d never been the sort to just sit around and stare at the dirt. He dealt with problems by acting. Whether it was the right action or not, didn’t matter. Doing something was better than doing nothing. He eyed another stand of trees and ran towards it, fists clenched and ready.

If there was no one to guide him, then he’d just have to find a way forward on his own. Somehow.

The forest echoed with the sounds of his shouts, and fists striking wood.

**Author's Note:**

> There's a point in that scene I referred to in the opening notes where Sano admits he's never trained before and doesn't know how. Like, no one's ever really taught him. And that just struck me as wild when we know Kenshin spent literal years with Hiko before going to war, and it had to be similar for Saito, Aoshi, Shishio, etc. 
> 
> And here's Sano, who's "training" consisted of Anji showing him the Mastery of Two Layers twice, then saying if Sano couldn't learn it in a week like he said, Anji would kill him. Everything else, Sano just picks up along the way.


End file.
